A guide through the Nordic everyday lifestyle, feelings, hopes, fears, dreams, weaknesses and ideas, written by a passionate 34-year-old city marketer from Helsinki, Finland.

Bachelorette party - Bengtskär Lighthouse Island

Helsinki, 18 degrees

Help us tank her before the anchor.

The second boat trip of the day, on June 30, took my bachelorette party to the Bengtskär Lighthouse Island! It was also a part of the Archipelago Sights Route that I mentioned in my previous blog post. I can't recommend enough this route - it was an unforgettable experience! It had been a lifelong dream of mine to visit this particular lighthouse, as it is the tallest lighthouse in the Nordics, and its massive stone walls
have witnessed some of the most dramatic events in Finland’s history!

The Bengtskär lighthouse is located in the Archipelago Sea, about 25 kilometers south west of one of my favorite Finnish cities - Hanko.The lighthouse was built in 1906, and it rises 52 meters above sea level. It has a very dramatic history as it was hit during both of the World Wars. About 15 000 people visit the lighthouse on an annual basis. It hosts also a hotel, and a naturally a sauna, but this time we didn't stay the night here or try the sauna.

Instead, we climbed the 252 stairs to the tower, and when reaching the top, we were awarded with a stunning
view of the sea! It definitely reminded me of Moomin creator Tove Jansson's stories (read about my trip to the lighthouse island that inspired her here) and a movie I recently saw - The Light Between Oceans. It's a very sad movie, starring one of the best current Swedish actresses Alicia Vikander, but it describes well the rough living conditions on a lighthouse island. There is something so fascinating with lighthouses - they are the most tranquill places in the world, but still they challenge their inhabitants in many ways. On a lighthouse island you are one with nature, you have to live according to it. I heard that on Bengtskär, during a storm the waves can swarm the whole island. It can also be a very lonely place, so I guess one could say that these kinds of islands are bittersweet.

Maybe it was the stories about the years 1906-39, the so called golden years of the island, that made me think of the movie. During those years the island had 32 inhabitants and 21 were children. I found a photo of the children in the lighthouse café and thought about how it might have felt to grow up there. I even heard a story about a boy, who was seven years old when he first stepped on mainland Finland and hugged all the trees he saw because "he had never seen such big plants before", as he said.

I must say that I don't know of a more calm place that the Bengtskär Lighthouse Island’s cliffs. I didn't want to leave them as they were so calming, but I do have a feeling that I'll be back at this island - that is how much I loved it! This is for sure a visit that I'll remember for the rest of my life!